| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Oldwick and, as his pistol spoke, there was a scream and the
sound of a falling body. Evidently disheartened by the failure
of their first attempt the assaulters drew off, but only for a
short time. Again they came, this time a man opposing Tar-
zan and a lion seeking to overcome Smith-Oldwick. Tarzan
had cautioned the young Englishman not to waste his car-
tridges upon the lions and it was Otobu with the Xujan spear
who met the beast, which was not subdued until both he and
Smith-Oldwick had been mauled, and the latter had succeeded
in running the point of the saber the girl had carried, into the
beast's heart. The man who opposed Tarzan inadvertently
Tarzan the Untamed |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the magnitude of the injury of which Tarzan was a
victim. The man had lost his memory--no longer could
he recollect past events. The Belgian was upon the
point of enlightening him, when it suddenly occurred to
him that by keeping Tarzan in ignorance, for a time at
least, of his true identity, it might be possible to
turn the ape-man's misfortune to his own advantage.
"I cannot tell you from whence you came," he said;
"but this I can tell you--if we do not get out of this
horrible place we shall both be slain upon this bloody
altar. The woman was about to plunge her knife into my
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: the alluvium and sand deposited by the Seine above the Cite, behind
the Church of Notre-Dame. The first man who was so bold as to build on
this strand, then liable to frequent floods, was a constable of the
watch of the City of Paris, who had been able to do some service to
their Reverences the Chapter of the Cathedral; and in return the
Bishop leased him twenty-five perches of land, with exemptions from
all feudal dues or taxes on the buildings he might erect.
Seven years before the beginning of this narrative, Joseph Tirechair,
one of the sternest of Paris constables, as his name (Tear Flesh)
would indicate, had, thanks to his share of the fines collected by him
for delinquencies committed within the precincts of the Cite, had been
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Blue Flower by Henry van Dyke: "As long as thee liketh," said she, "for my father, the
miller, will return ere sundown, and right gladly will he have
a guest so brave."
"Longer might I like," said he, "but longer may I not
stay, for I ride in a quest and seek great adventures to
become a knight."
So they bestowed the horse in the stable, and went into
the Mill; and when the miller was come home they had such good
cheer with eating of venison and pan-cakes, and drinking of
hydromel, and singing of pleasant ballads, that Martimor clean
forgot he was in a delay. And going to his bed in a fair
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